Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Such winds caused 36 deaths and displaced more than 27,000 this year
Zakir Hussain Straits Times 28 Dec 12;

JAKARTA - Residents of Sumput in Sidoarjo, East Java, already forced to stay home because of heavy rain on Wednesday afternoon, got a double whammy when a sudden gale-force wind struck their village, toppling trees and electric cables and blowing the roofs off several houses.

No one was injured, but such strong winds - less deadly than tropical cyclones or tornadoes - have been identified by disaster officials as a growing and destructive weather threat.

The national agency for disaster management (BNPB) projects that such gale-force winds are set to cause more damage in the near future, going by their increasing frequency in recent years.

The forecast comes as officials nationwide urge residents to brace themselves for extreme weather over the next few months, which coincide with the annual rainy season.

The BNPB recorded 14 instances of such winds - referred to as "puting beliung" in Indonesia - in 2002, 122 in 2007, and 259 this year - before Wednesday.

"We expect the threat to grow in tandem with the rising impact of climate change globally," said Dr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the head of the BNPB's data centre.

"We're still trying to understand the phenomenon," he added. "Alas, these are still near-impossible to detect in advance, as they often last under 10 minutes and cover an area with a radius of less than 2km."

He told The Straits Times that global warming has led the tropics to expand over the past 30 years, and has also resulted in the formation of larger anvil-shaped cumulonimbus clouds, which are associated with thunderstorms and heavy rainfall.

Scientists in the United States have also said that climate change could spawn more tornadoes in future.

In Indonesia, such winds killed 36 people this year - mostly a result of falling trees or roofs - and displaced more than 27,000.

Some 115 million people spread over 404 regencies and cities are in areas at risk of such winds, Dr Sutopo added.

The highest-risk areas are located along the coast: the western coast of Sumatra, the northern coast of Java - where Jakarta and several major cities are located - East Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi.

Dr Sutopo said his agency is in discussions with the Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology on developing a warning system for such whirlwinds.

"At the moment, we can only urge people to stay clear of trees or billboards during heavy rain," he added.

BNPB data also shows that 232 people died in floods or landslides, or a combination of both, so far this year. Another 28 died as a result of earthquakes, of which there were no major ones this year.

BMKG chief Sri Woro Harijono also announced that Jakarta is expected to see average monthly rainfall of 200mm to 300mm until April.

Officials are preparing supplies for those who may be displaced, and also getting down to cleaning drains and sewers so that water can flow off quickly.

"The government can only manage these disasters; it cannot prevent or predict them," said Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono, who oversees agencies dealing with climate and rescue concerns.

But Dr Sutopo is worried that many still fail to take precautions to mitigate the impact of natural disasters, such as using sturdy building material that can withstand quakes and strong winds.

"We are also quick to forget, and become complacent," he said. "For instance, we fail to see that littering in rivers contributes to flooding until it's too late."